Various Sea Mammals

It was a beautiful sunrise with only some clouds and a decent wind blowing from the southeast, as Alvin, Dylan and I biked to Grenen for the migration count today, while Alix, János and Julia, the Danish volunteer who arrived yesterday evening and will stay with us for four days, were already ringing at Kabeltromlen. Both the migration and the ringing started off pretty slowly with not so many birds in total. Nice sightings although were two White-tailed Eagles (Havørn), the Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) again and a 2cy Gannet (Sule), which means an individual that hatched last year and is very uncommon to see here this time around, because they normally remain on their wintering grounds during summer. Apart from that, there weren’t any other highlights in the birds, but nevertheless there was more going on out at sea… At half past nine, it was me to spot the first whale. I only saw it once, blowing and then diving away, but judging from its size and the shape of its dorsal fin, it should’ve been a Minke Whale (Minkhval). However, the whale-watching didn’t stop there: About half an hour later, a group of six Orcas (Spækhugger) appeared. Over the course of the next two hours, we were able to observe them very well, getting some great views on them at times.

Whale in sight!

For Alvin and me it was the first time ever to observe this very impressive species, and therefore also a little bit exciting. After performing a silly but cheerful activity we call “sand dune jumping“ (sdj) which warmed us up after the four hours of sitting in the wind, we biked back to the station.

Sand Dune Jumping!

In the afternoon, Dylan and Alvin wanted to build a moth trap to set up in the next days and maybe catch some interesting moth species, but there were some complications to it, so they couldn’t complete the contraption. It’s a project for the following days then. Later on, János and Dylan had the opportunity to guide a bird-watching tour, going to Grenen and Nordstrand, keeping an eye out both inland and on the sea. They’ve had a very kind and interested audience, and all together they were able to observe some nice birds, for example a singing male Stonechat (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), Sanderlings (Sandløber) and Teals (Kirkand); they also heard a Bittern (Rørdrum). In the meantime, Alix and Alvin went shopping for groceries, while Julia and I both went on a small and very sunny evening walk. On the way to Grenen, a little Grey Seal (Gråsæl) was laying on the beach.

Grey Seal (Gråsæl)

Grenen and evening sun.

The day was rounded off with a delicious spinach ceviche made by Alvin.

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Alix Bortolussi, Dylan Daunt, Julia Skytte, Julian Helbig, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Katrin, Tove, Eik and Inger